Pedestrian and Bicyclist Safety Grants Awarded To CHP

Several pedestrians and bicyclists have been killed in the Sacramento area in recent days. The California Highway Patrol is receiving $400,000 in grants from the State of California for educational campaigns.

The CHP's Valley Division says the grants from the California Office of Traffic Safety will go to educating people on how to share the road.

"The focus will not just be on vehicles," says Officer Adrian Quintero. "It will also be on bicyclists and also pedestrian safety. We want to make sure that pedestrians are using crosswalks and crossing in a manner that's going to be safe and not putting themselves at risk.

And as far as the bicyclists, obviously we understand and realize that they also have a responsibility not to drive impaired or ride their bicycles impaired as well as making sure they're adhering to all of the rules of the road."

Quintero says five people have died in collisions involving bicyclists or pedestrians in the past two weeks in the Sacramento area.

Twenty-six thousand bicyclists and pedestrians were injured in California in 2011. Eight-hundred people died.